A closer look at the famous Russian football star shows a lot of similarities indeed.

1. The athletic constitution helps meerkats survive in the natural world. Arshavin’s athletic build helps him rush across the field all through the match, trying to score a goal.

2. The meerkats’ coloration is very similar to Arshavin’s hair color. Moreover, his face bears some resemblance to meerkats’ muzzle.

3. Meerkats unite into clans, while footballers are also teaming up. Besides, the clans struggle for territory, just like footballers fight to score a goal.

4. Meerkats like to embrace and play with each other. Football players do the same, celebrating the scored goals.

5. Meerkats are prone to changing their positions. Football fans remember Andrey trying to leave “Zenith” many times. He was invited to “Real”, “Barcelona”, “Milan”, “Tottenham”, “Chelsea” and many others.

6. Meerkats’ flexibility allows them to take various postures. Arshavin himself likes to grimace on-camera.

7. The African people call these small animals “sun angels”, and “Arsenal” fans after Andrey's legendary “poker” even composed a motto calling Arshavin the “football god.”

8. Meerkats are known to stand vertically on hinder paws with their front paws resting on stomach. It reminds of the footballers’ wall during a direct free kick.

9. Meerkats can be easily tamed due to their high intellect. Arshavin very quickly demonstrated team-work with his team-mates from “Arsenal”, though reporters were predicting a long period of “acclimatization.”

10. Meerkats dislike cold weather. Although Arshavin had lived in St. Petersburg all his life, he could not get used to chilly and rainy weather in London for a long time.